Duangpetch Promthep, one of 12 boys rescued from a cave in Thailand in 2018, has died while attending school in the U.K. He was just 17 years old.
Promthep was found unconscious in his dorm room in Leicestershire on Sunday, the BBC reported. He was rushed to Kettering General Hospital, where he died on Tuesday.
Leicestershire Police said his death is not being treated as suspicious.
According to the northern regional branch of the Thai government, Promthep died of a head injury due to an accident, though no additional details were provided.
“The atmosphere at his house in Chiang Rai province was full of sorrow,” PR Thailand’s statement said.
In 2018, Promthep was the captain of the Wild Boars youth soccer team when he and his teammates became trapped deep inside a flooded cave for over two weeks in Chiang Rai, Thailand. After a daring international rescue effort, all 12 of the young soccer players and their coach were saved.
Since last year, Promthep has been attending a soccer academy in the U.K. on a scholarship. The Brooke House College Football Academy has yet to release a statement about the student’s death.
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Promthep and his former teammates in Thailand rejoiced when he announced on Instagram that he had won a scholarship to the academy in August.
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“Today my dream has come true,” he wrote.
Just six months later, his teammates are posting condolences for their friend.
“We have been through together a lot, good and bad times. We had went through life and death situations together, when you told me to wait and see the time you became a national player. I always believed that you could do it,” wrote one of the other Thai cave survivors, Prajak Sutham, on Facebook.
“Last time we met before you left to UK, I jokingly told you that, when you’re back I would ask for your (autograph). Rest in Peace Bro, we always have each other, the 13 of us.”
Another teammate, Titan Chanin Viboonrungruang, wrote: “Brother, you told me that we would be achieving our football dream… if the next world is real, I want us to play football together again.”
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